Indo-Afghan "Ekta"
My driver is also a good friend of mine… much of whether I remain safe and sound depends on his power of observation and discretion… and I really owe my life to him…
Like the day when I was going somewhere on the bullet-proof vehicle, he saw a suspicious looking person following us for quite some distance… he changed the speed of our vehicle again and again to discern whether this suspicious character had some ace up his sleeve… luckily this suspicious character did not have one… but one day another suspicious character might have one… and what would save the day for me, is the same power of observation and discretion.
He is happily married… with lovely sons… and when I met them; I was reminded of my own sons- who sleep in a distant land in the laps of their mother, unaware of this world where nothing seems to be fine… a place where explosions and rockets are order of the day… defying all human sensibilities and understandings.
Much of what I know or come to know about this society is through interaction with friends like him… and more I know about this society… it seems that they are quite like us… same anxieties and same aspiration… same cravings and same shortcomings.
Today, my driver (whose name is for the sake of narration Abdul, lest I may not jeopardize his own well being) told me a funny instance that set me thinking… about a fight that happened between his wife and him… over what program would be watched on the television. Abdul was insisting that they should watch a football match and his wife wanted to see a television serial on Lamaar TV (one of the very successful private satellite channels in Afghanistan)… and the program was a dubbed version of “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi”.
He told me that an average Kandahari household keeps a electric generator in his house which is used only when it is the time of these serials’ broadcast… and how wives have started forcing their husbands to buy electric generators… in a society, where till a few years back (and even now) women were (and sometimes still are) flogged for making appearance in public… (Kandahar, as an aside, does not receive more than 2-3 hours of electricity on normal days… and sometime a VIP visit ensures 10-12 hours of electricity…)
“Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” and “Kahanii Ghar Ghar ki” are the most popular soaps in these badlands… so popular that they are changing a lot of habits in this place… so popular that they are forcing the women to make choices… so popular that they hold a key to future…
I have always hated Ekta Kapoor serials… for making life a melodrama of telling story of every house in an surreal fashion… making me rub my eyes in disbelief… for turning women into villains… I have always made fun of them… always shouted at my mother for seeing it…. I, like many others, just ridiculed and trashed these serials… but now after seeing their popularity in Afghanistan… I am forced to change my opinion about them.
When I look back… Ekta Kapoor’s serial changed a lot of things in Indian household… where women were left to see television in a humiliating fashion… after the “cricket games” for males and “cartoon shows” for kids…. Never ever they could watch anything during the prime time… and when they tried they were reminded that they are in the homes for the entire day…. A truth half told… for there weren’t any program worth a watch during the days…
But Ekta Kapoor’s serial changed it… suddenly women started demanding to see these serials… where women were heroes and villains… and so what… suddenly… women were using their machinations and sexuality like Komolikas and Parvatis… to beat males in their game, only to be helped by their better halves to be bailed out… suddenly women were at the centre.
And suddenly… women were at the centre stage…. They didn’t need to hang on to their husbands to see a drama, a film… some source of entertainment… they now had it right there in their bedrooms…
Some prudes… actually laughed at the kind of intellect that these serials were spreading… making women their prey… in retrospect, I feel the fallacy in their logic… these were the same people who for ages didn’t allow their women to have a rightful place in society… wrote treatise in which women was shown a rightful recipient of a thrashing and bashing….
Things are changing in these badlands… Ekta Kapoor and her ilk are worthy of being called India’s brand ambassador in these badlands… suddenly families after families are learning Urdu/Hindustani (they are not satisfied with the dubbing on Lamaar TV… and want to see it on Star Utsav, which is re-running these serials… the sartorial habits are changing… everyday I meet people, who have dumped Lahore and are shifting “clothes procurements” to Surat and Delhi… so what these serials are doing is a great exercise of public diplomacy, which no diplomat can do… and no enemy state can stop….
But more than that… it is changing the power structures within the society… women have started asking their husbands to buy generators, they have started asking their husbands to take care of the kids during the primetime… they have started reminding their husband to buy kerosene… for the generators…
It also has some funny repercussions, though. A funny incident that happened a few months ago when a few thieves entered a house… well aware that all the women would be watching the serials and holed up in a room… they stole everything… and left a message “Long Live Ekta”…
Sorry Ekta… for demeaning you for so long… perhaps even you are aware… to what kind of revolution you are ushering us into… hats-off to all your efforts… and long live your serials
Afghanistan needs you… to resurrect itself.
Like the day when I was going somewhere on the bullet-proof vehicle, he saw a suspicious looking person following us for quite some distance… he changed the speed of our vehicle again and again to discern whether this suspicious character had some ace up his sleeve… luckily this suspicious character did not have one… but one day another suspicious character might have one… and what would save the day for me, is the same power of observation and discretion.
He is happily married… with lovely sons… and when I met them; I was reminded of my own sons- who sleep in a distant land in the laps of their mother, unaware of this world where nothing seems to be fine… a place where explosions and rockets are order of the day… defying all human sensibilities and understandings.
Much of what I know or come to know about this society is through interaction with friends like him… and more I know about this society… it seems that they are quite like us… same anxieties and same aspiration… same cravings and same shortcomings.
Today, my driver (whose name is for the sake of narration Abdul, lest I may not jeopardize his own well being) told me a funny instance that set me thinking… about a fight that happened between his wife and him… over what program would be watched on the television. Abdul was insisting that they should watch a football match and his wife wanted to see a television serial on Lamaar TV (one of the very successful private satellite channels in Afghanistan)… and the program was a dubbed version of “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi”.
He told me that an average Kandahari household keeps a electric generator in his house which is used only when it is the time of these serials’ broadcast… and how wives have started forcing their husbands to buy electric generators… in a society, where till a few years back (and even now) women were (and sometimes still are) flogged for making appearance in public… (Kandahar, as an aside, does not receive more than 2-3 hours of electricity on normal days… and sometime a VIP visit ensures 10-12 hours of electricity…)
“Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” and “Kahanii Ghar Ghar ki” are the most popular soaps in these badlands… so popular that they are changing a lot of habits in this place… so popular that they are forcing the women to make choices… so popular that they hold a key to future…
I have always hated Ekta Kapoor serials… for making life a melodrama of telling story of every house in an surreal fashion… making me rub my eyes in disbelief… for turning women into villains… I have always made fun of them… always shouted at my mother for seeing it…. I, like many others, just ridiculed and trashed these serials… but now after seeing their popularity in Afghanistan… I am forced to change my opinion about them.
When I look back… Ekta Kapoor’s serial changed a lot of things in Indian household… where women were left to see television in a humiliating fashion… after the “cricket games” for males and “cartoon shows” for kids…. Never ever they could watch anything during the prime time… and when they tried they were reminded that they are in the homes for the entire day…. A truth half told… for there weren’t any program worth a watch during the days…
But Ekta Kapoor’s serial changed it… suddenly women started demanding to see these serials… where women were heroes and villains… and so what… suddenly… women were using their machinations and sexuality like Komolikas and Parvatis… to beat males in their game, only to be helped by their better halves to be bailed out… suddenly women were at the centre.
And suddenly… women were at the centre stage…. They didn’t need to hang on to their husbands to see a drama, a film… some source of entertainment… they now had it right there in their bedrooms…
Some prudes… actually laughed at the kind of intellect that these serials were spreading… making women their prey… in retrospect, I feel the fallacy in their logic… these were the same people who for ages didn’t allow their women to have a rightful place in society… wrote treatise in which women was shown a rightful recipient of a thrashing and bashing….
Things are changing in these badlands… Ekta Kapoor and her ilk are worthy of being called India’s brand ambassador in these badlands… suddenly families after families are learning Urdu/Hindustani (they are not satisfied with the dubbing on Lamaar TV… and want to see it on Star Utsav, which is re-running these serials… the sartorial habits are changing… everyday I meet people, who have dumped Lahore and are shifting “clothes procurements” to Surat and Delhi… so what these serials are doing is a great exercise of public diplomacy, which no diplomat can do… and no enemy state can stop….
But more than that… it is changing the power structures within the society… women have started asking their husbands to buy generators, they have started asking their husbands to take care of the kids during the primetime… they have started reminding their husband to buy kerosene… for the generators…
It also has some funny repercussions, though. A funny incident that happened a few months ago when a few thieves entered a house… well aware that all the women would be watching the serials and holed up in a room… they stole everything… and left a message “Long Live Ekta”…
Sorry Ekta… for demeaning you for so long… perhaps even you are aware… to what kind of revolution you are ushering us into… hats-off to all your efforts… and long live your serials
Afghanistan needs you… to resurrect itself.
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